Data processing systems often require alignment and shifting of bytes within transmitted digital data. For example, bits or bytes of data may need to be right-justified or left-justified on a bus. In networked environments, packet headers from one protocol may be shifted compared to packet headers from another protocol. Such shifting functions may be accomplished in reconfigurable computing components such as field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). Configurable logic blocks (“CLBs”) within an FPGA may be configured into multiplexors that can be used for shifting functions. However, such implementations may be difficult to scale and require a great deal of CLBs, depending on the width of the data. Thus, there is a need in the art for mechanisms that allow scalability in data alignment functions implemented in reconfigurable computing environments such as FPGAs.